US6993966B2 - Advanced volume gauging device - Google Patents

Advanced volume gauging device Download PDF

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Publication number
US6993966B2
US6993966B2 US10/479,988 US47998804A US6993966B2 US 6993966 B2 US6993966 B2 US 6993966B2 US 47998804 A US47998804 A US 47998804A US 6993966 B2 US6993966 B2 US 6993966B2
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volume
tank
pressure
propellant
valve
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US20040231413A1 (en
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Lars Stenmark
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Nanospace AB
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
    • G01F22/00—Methods or apparatus for measuring volume of fluids or fluent solid material, not otherwise provided for
    • G01F22/02—Methods or apparatus for measuring volume of fluids or fluent solid material, not otherwise provided for involving measurement of pressure
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
    • G01F23/00—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm
    • G01F23/14—Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm by measurement of pressure
    • G01F23/18—Indicating, recording or alarm devices actuated electrically

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an advanced volume gauging device. More specifically, the invention relates to a high precision miniaturized volume gauging device.
  • FIG. 1 In U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,775 Chobotov et al disclose a volume gauging system based on thermodynamic principles.
  • This system 10 is shown in FIG. 1 , and it includes a pressurisation tank 20 of volume V p .
  • the tank 20 includes a pressurisation gas at pressure P p and temperature T p .
  • the system 10 further includes a propellant tank 40 of volume V T .
  • the tank 40 includes a generally liquid propellant occupying a volume V L .
  • the portion of the tank 40 unoccupied by the liquid phase of the propellant has an ullage volume V u , a pressure P u and a temperature T u .
  • the tanks 20 and 40 are interconnected by a gas line 50 .
  • Gas flow through the line 50 is controlled by an injection valve 60 . Additionally, the pressure P p within the tank 20 is monitored by a first absolute pressure transducer 65 in communication therewith. Similarly, a second absolute pressure transducer 70 monitors the pressure P u within the ullage volume V u of the tank 40 .
  • the temperatures T p and T u of the tanks 20 and 40 are ascertained by temperature sensors (not shown) operatively coupled thereto.
  • the ullage volume V u is determined in the following manner. First, the pressure P p is chosen to be larger than the pressure P u in order that the pressurisation gas within the tank 20 flows into the tank 40 upon opening of the valve 60 . The valve 60 is opened until a suitably measurable increase occurs in the pressure P u within the chamber 40 . The valve 60 is then closed and the changes in the pressures P p and P u are determined from the pressure transducers 65 and 70 .
  • This particular sensor 90 is intended for measuring small fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, and is constructed as follows.
  • a space which has been surrounded by a first vessel 100 and a second vessel 110 is divided into two parts by a flexible film body 120 , and a first chamber 105 and a reference chamber 115 are formed by the flexible film body 120 and the vessel 100 , and the flexible film body 120 and the vessel 110 , respectively.
  • communicating holes (or lines) 130 , 140 are provided on the vessel 100 and the vessel 110 by which the respective chambers 105 , 115 communicate to the open air, and on the communicating hole 140 is provided an electromagnetic valve 150 for opening and closing between the reference chamber 115 and the open air.
  • a pressure sensor 160 detects and measures pressure of a difference between the chamber 105 and 115 through the flexible film body 120 .
  • a measuring signal processing part 170 receives a signal which has been sent from the pressure sensor 160 , converts it to a variation of pressure by means of signal processing, sends it out to a display recording part 180 , also sends out an opening and closing indication signal to an opening and closing means driving part 190 whenever a variation of pressure attains to a set value, and instantaneously opens the electromagnetic valve 150 .
  • this sensor may be described as a differential pressure sensor 95 measuring a pressure difference between the closed reference chamber 115 and the surrounding atmosphere.
  • the sensor concept presented in JP 57035743 may be designed such that a huge increase in sensitivity (in a limited but selectable range) is achieved, compared to a conventional differential pressure sensor.
  • a numerical example gives the following results.
  • the pressure on the frontside and the backside will be absolutely equal if the valve 150 is open long enough.
  • the pressure in reference chamber 115 should be within 0.1% of 22 bars if the tank pressure is 22 bars.
  • the pressure sensor membrane 120 has 100-mbar sensitivity for a full-scale deflection and that the deflection may be measured with 0.1% accuracy.
  • the end result is that with an absolute pressure of 22 bars a pressure change of 0.022 mbar can be detected.
  • the resolution is 10 ⁇ 6 , which is far beyond what can be achieved with any conventional pressure sensor today.
  • the present invention aims toward a self-contained miniaturized volume gauging device, which can be mounted on/inside, the tank wall.
  • a self-contained miniaturized volume gauging device which can be mounted on/inside, the tank wall.
  • Such a device has three major advantages compared with existing systems. Firstly, the sample volume will have the same temperature as the tank volume, which relaxes the temperature measurement requirements. Secondly, the propellant tank walls provide additional radiation shielding for the integrated electronics. Thirdly, the proposed device will be both lighter and smaller compared with conventional systems.
  • the device shall include the sample volume, gas injection system, super-high precision pressure sensor and electronics for control, signal conditioning and digital interface to the spacecraft.
  • An object of the present invention therefore is to provide a new miniaturized volume gauging system.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a new method for measuring the remaining fuel in a propellant tank using a dP pressure sensor.
  • FIG. 1 schematically shows an existing propellant gauging system.
  • FIG. 2 shows an existing high precision pressure sensor.
  • FIG. 3 schematically shows a propellant gauging system according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of the miniaturized fuel gauging device of the invention.
  • FIG. 5 shows one embodiment of a michromechanical dP sensor according to one embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.
  • the fuel gauging system 200 comprises all parts shown in FIG. 1 , and one high precision pressure sensor 90 according to FIG. 2 , which pressure sensor 90 is coupled to the propellant tank 40 by the communicating holes 130 , 140 .
  • the system further comprises a processing/control unit 210 for calculating the volume of the remaining fuel VL and controlling the gauging cycle.
  • a line 230 connects the pressurisation tank 20 with a high pressure source (HPS) and the loading of high pressure gas into the pressurisation tank 20 is controlled by a valve 220 .
  • HPS high pressure source
  • the system may further comprise filters to prevent liquids inside the gas system and temperature sensors for measuring the temperatures in the pressurisation tank 20 and the propellant tank 40 .
  • filters to prevent liquids inside the gas system and temperature sensors for measuring the temperatures in the pressurisation tank 20 and the propellant tank 40 .
  • the gas in the pressurisation tank 20 will approximately have the same temperature as the gas in the propellant tank 40 , whereby the temperature measurements may be omitted.
  • Valve 220 is opened and the pressurisation tank 20 is filled with gas to a high pressure (P p ), then the valve 220 is closed and the pressure transducer 65 registers the pressure Pp.
  • absolute pressure (P u ) is registered in the propellant tank 40 by the pressure transducer 75 , and the valve 150 is closed such that the reference chamber 115 will remain at the pressure P u .
  • the injection valve 60 is opened and the high pressure gas from the pressurisation tank 20 is injected into the propellant tank 40 .
  • the high precision pressure sensor 90 registers the resulting small increase of the absolute pressure dP u in the propellant tank 40 , the injection valve 60 is closed and the processing/control unit 210 calculates the volume of the remaining propellant using equation [5] below.
  • the pressure measurement system shall enable two kinds of pressure data, dP u pressure valves for volume gauging and absolute tank pressure for house-keeping
  • Requirements on a volume gauging system may be:
  • the requirements on fast response time and sampling rate originates from the fact that the tank pressure value are of significant importance for the accuracy of the dP u measurement after a gas sample injection.
  • the pressure conditions are not in steady state conditions.
  • FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a self-contained miniaturized volume gauging device 490 , which is intended to be mounted directly on the tank wall.
  • This embodiment comprises a main body 500 on which a pressurisation tank 20 is arranged.
  • the main body 500 comprises a communication portion 505 that is arranged to mate a hole in the wall of a propellant tank 40 .
  • An injection valve 60 is mounted on the main body 500 inside the pressurisation tank 20 .
  • a first line 230 extends from an outer surface of the main body 500 to the pressurisation tank 20 , through which first line 230 loading of high-pressure gas into the pressurisation tank 20 is performed.
  • a high-pressure valve 220 (not shown in the figure) is in this embodiment arranged separately from the volume-gauging device 490 and connected to the line 230 .
  • a second gas line 50 extends through the main body 500 terminating at one end in the propellant tank 40 and at the other end at the injection valve 60 .
  • a micromechanical pressure sensor unit 510 is arranged in the main body 500 .
  • the pressure sensor unit 510 comprises one P u sensor, one P p sensor and one dP u sensor.
  • the P u sensor and the dP u sensor communicates with the propellant tank 40 via a third gas line 520
  • the P p sensor communicates with the pressurisation tank 20 via a fourth gas line 530 .
  • An electrical connector for connecting the pressure sensor unit 510 and the injection valve 60 to an external control unit (not shown), is arranged on the side of the main body 500 .
  • they are each provided with a protection filter 540 and 550 respectively.
  • FIG. 5 further shows a number of sealing rings that prevent gas or propellant leakage in the system.
  • the proposed self-contained miniaturized volume gauging device 490 is considerably smaller and lighter than existing systems built up from discrete components. However, for micro-satellites and the like, even smaller devices are needed, and as the propellant tank 40 in such systems is much smaller, the pressurisation tank 20 may be extremely small, a self-contained all micromechanical volume gauging device may be applicable.
  • FIG. 5 A practical realisation of a micromechanical dP-sensor which may be used in the above embodiments is shown in FIG. 5 .
  • the P u sensor and the P p sensor of the micromechanical pressure sensor unit 510 are not shown here, as they may be considered trivial to one skilled in art.
  • This dP-sensor is based on bonded micromachined wafers. The material is most likely silicon but other more corrosion resistant materials such as quartz or silicon carbide can also be used.
  • the device works as follows. Wafer A 300 and wafer B 310 form the pressure sensor and the valve elements. A large cavity 320 is formed on wafer A 300 by suitable etching methods. The bottom of the cavity becomes a flexible membrane 120 .
  • Two metal planes 330 or electrodes between wafer A 300 and B 310 act as a capacitor where the capacitance changes when the membrane bends. The electrodes can be accessed via two through-plated holes 340 . This is the pressure sensor part.
  • a reference chamber 115 is connected to the valve through a small channel 140 .
  • the volume of the reference chamber 115 is much larger than expected as it also is connected to a buffer volume 350 .
  • This volume has two good effects on the system. It reduces the sensitivity for valve leakage during the measurement period and also the effects of the flexible membrane 120 deflection which otherwise could cause a small increase of the locked reference pressure.
  • a valve seat 360 is formed in wafer A 300 through wet etching of a shallow cavity with a ringshaped ridge. The gas entrance is through a wet etched through hole 370 . The hole is etched from the outside.
  • a valve cap 380 is formed in wafer B 310 , it is a square shaped block suspended all around by a thin flexible membrane 390 .
  • the valve cap 380 may be moved against or from the valve seat by changing the length of valve actuators 400 , 410 , 420 .
  • the actuators 400 , 410 , 420 may be piezoelectric elements where the total length can be changed by a control voltage.
  • the valve cap 380 opens when the central actuator 410 contracts or when the surrounding actuators 400 , 420 elongate.
  • the central actuator 410 is mechanically connected to the surrounding by use of a third silicon wafer 430 .
  • a fourth silicon wafer 440 with a filter structure protects the fragile sensor membrane 120 from liquids or particles.
US10/479,988 2001-06-08 2002-06-10 Advanced volume gauging device Expired - Lifetime US6993966B2 (en)

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SE0102037A SE0102037D0 (sv) 2001-06-08 2001-06-08 Advanced volume gauging device
SE0102037-9 2001-06-08
PCT/SE2002/001120 WO2002101336A1 (en) 2001-06-08 2002-06-10 Advanced volume gauging device

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20040215407A1 (en) * 2003-04-24 2004-10-28 Thielman Jeffrey L. Apparatus and method for integrating a fuel supply and a fuel level sensing pressure sensor
DE102007010345A1 (de) * 2006-10-05 2008-04-10 Cybio Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Kalibrieren und/oder Equilibrieren von ein- und mehrkanaligen Liquidhandlinggeräten
WO2010144840A1 (en) * 2009-06-11 2010-12-16 Qualcomm Incorporated Microfluidic measuring tool to measure through-silicon via depth

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102005044116A1 (de) * 2005-09-07 2007-03-08 Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. Flüssigkeitsfüllstand-Meßvorrichtung, Tank und Verfahren zur Ermittlung des Flüssigkeitsfüllstandes in einem Tank
DE102006017811B4 (de) * 2006-04-13 2011-09-15 Astrium Gmbh Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Bestimmung der Treibstoffmasse eines Raumflugkörpers
US8438930B2 (en) * 2009-01-08 2013-05-14 United Launch Alliance, Llc Mechanical signal processing accumulator attenuation device and method
CN102353416B (zh) * 2011-06-08 2012-11-21 合肥工业大学 基于同步压力测量的汽缸盖容积检测装置及方法
EP3165881A1 (en) * 2015-11-04 2017-05-10 ETH Zurich Method, device and system for estimating a liquid volume and appropriate gas pressure in a membrane expansion vessel
CN114295279A (zh) * 2021-12-31 2022-04-08 中国铁建重工集团股份有限公司 一种气压检测装置及检测方法

Citations (6)

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US3895519A (en) 1974-06-25 1975-07-22 Mcnay Equipment Company Inc Electronic control system for fluid measurement of a closed air space
US4840064A (en) * 1988-03-15 1989-06-20 Sundstrand Corp. Liquid volume monitoring apparatus and method
US4987775A (en) 1988-10-03 1991-01-29 Hac Propellant measurement system
FR2682185A1 (fr) 1991-10-04 1993-04-09 Intertechnique Sa Procede et dispositif de mesure de volume residuel de liquide dans un reservoir ferme.
US5531111A (en) 1994-04-28 1996-07-02 Nippondenso Co., Ltd. Structure of a volumetric measuring apparatus
US5880356A (en) 1995-02-20 1999-03-09 Centre National D'etudes Spatiales Device for pressurizing a unified two-liquid propulsion subsystem geostationary satellites

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3895519A (en) 1974-06-25 1975-07-22 Mcnay Equipment Company Inc Electronic control system for fluid measurement of a closed air space
US4840064A (en) * 1988-03-15 1989-06-20 Sundstrand Corp. Liquid volume monitoring apparatus and method
US4987775A (en) 1988-10-03 1991-01-29 Hac Propellant measurement system
FR2682185A1 (fr) 1991-10-04 1993-04-09 Intertechnique Sa Procede et dispositif de mesure de volume residuel de liquide dans un reservoir ferme.
US5531111A (en) 1994-04-28 1996-07-02 Nippondenso Co., Ltd. Structure of a volumetric measuring apparatus
US5880356A (en) 1995-02-20 1999-03-09 Centre National D'etudes Spatiales Device for pressurizing a unified two-liquid propulsion subsystem geostationary satellites

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20040215407A1 (en) * 2003-04-24 2004-10-28 Thielman Jeffrey L. Apparatus and method for integrating a fuel supply and a fuel level sensing pressure sensor
US7788048B2 (en) * 2003-04-24 2010-08-31 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Apparatus and method for integrating a fuel supply and a fuel level sensing pressure sensor
DE102007010345A1 (de) * 2006-10-05 2008-04-10 Cybio Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Kalibrieren und/oder Equilibrieren von ein- und mehrkanaligen Liquidhandlinggeräten
US20080083263A1 (en) * 2006-10-05 2008-04-10 Cybio Ag Process and arrangement for calibrating and/or equilibrating single-channel and multi-channel liquid handling devices
DE102007010345B4 (de) * 2006-10-05 2008-10-02 Cybio Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Kalibrieren und/oder Equilibrieren von ein- und mehrkanaligen Liquidhandlinggeräten
US7810371B2 (en) 2006-10-05 2010-10-12 Cybio Ag Process and arrangement for calibrating and/or equilibrating single-channel and multi-channel liquid handling devices
WO2010144840A1 (en) * 2009-06-11 2010-12-16 Qualcomm Incorporated Microfluidic measuring tool to measure through-silicon via depth
US20100313652A1 (en) * 2009-06-11 2010-12-16 Qualcomm Incorporated Microfluidic Measuring Tool to Measure Through-Silicon Via Depth
US7900519B2 (en) 2009-06-11 2011-03-08 Qualcomm Incorporated Microfluidic measuring tool to measure through-silicon via depth

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US20040231413A1 (en) 2004-11-25
EP1412709A1 (en) 2004-04-28
SE0102037D0 (sv) 2001-06-08
EP1412709B1 (en) 2016-11-16
WO2002101336A1 (en) 2002-12-19

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